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{
"id": 1048639,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1048639/?format=api",
"text_counter": 295,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Ochillo-Ayacko",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "infracting and violating; in fact, a strict push for compliance with the legislation and enforcement of those legislations, we would have quite a number of executives and management of county assemblies in jail. Unfortunately, the Senate and the National Assembly, year in, year out, are able to flag and identify these perpetrators. However, other institutions that should help in enforcement of legislation have not performed to the expectation of the nation. For instance, if you look at the Public Audit Act, it has very serious sanctions prescribed for non-availability of documents for audit. If you look at the same Act, you will find that there are very stringent legal requirements for failure to provide documents and for late submissions of these documents. Year in, year out, you will find that the Senate and the Auditor-General get these complaints, discuss them and make recommendations. However, year in, year out, county executives still do the same. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, our Committee observed that there is need to nudge each institution and not just to leave the lamentation to the Senate. The Office of the Auditor-General, whose audit functions are hampered when documents are not submitted in time, should be able to find a mechanism of filing specific complaints. You go to a county, for instance, Kisumu, Mombasa or any other county and you find that the first audit issue is non-provision of documents. You look at the following year; again it is non- provision of documents. You look at the subsequent year, it is non-provision of documents. If you look around and check, there is no formal complaint that has been taken to any criminal investigative department. However, even if none has been taken, there are reports of the Senate that are public documents, that are in the possession of law enforcement agencies, but they never read them. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) are aware of these complaints. That makes reports just documents to be filed and gathering dust and mould wherever they are. Most of these county executives and management of assemblies treat them as the bark of a small dog that is unable to bite. I think it is high time that the real dog, which is the oversight dog, together with associated or related institutions, should bite somebody. The people to be bitten are recorded in this report. We need to have them bitten very badly because what they are doing is abuse of public trust. Public trust, if abused, I can assure you governance will never deliver anything effectively because governance is based on law. When it is done in accordance with law, then the object for which those institutions were intended, and the benefit that the public expect out of those institutions, would be realized in a measured manner. The public would cease being skeptical and cynical about why they vote and fund those institutions. In fact, some members of the public have given up on expecting performance or services from any institution. If you go out there, you will see hotels and private businesses coming up. These businesses are owned by people who work in counties. They do not have any other known source of income. There is no service yet you see their wealth growing by leaps and bounds."
}